The RED Zone.

It's happened to everybody...you've just spent an hour in the store with your spouse and the offspring.  You're in the the check out line, your feet hurt, your child is tired and whiny, and you've spent more money then you wanted too.  Now, the only thing on your mind is to pay, go home, get out of those uncomfortable shoes, put the baby down for a nap, and relax.  But before you can even begin that process, the cashier asks, "Would you like to open a store credit card and save 20% on today's purchase?"  When you politely decline, they always seem to give you that "seriously-you-don't-want-to-save-twenty-percent-on-the-$400-you-just-blew" look.  Yes, you know exactly the look I'm talking about, because it's happened to you too - probably more than once. 

Keeping that in mind, my husband and I shop at Target - a lot.  I've always liked the store.  In college my sister and I spent way too much of our time and money wandering the aisles for things we mainly didn't need, and never seemed to get out of there without spending some amount of money.  When we were first married, my husband and I would shop there on occasion, but we had a strict budget and the prices there didn't always fit within our means.  So, Target got overlooked most of the time.  But then we had a baby.  And babies are expensive...as if you didn't already know that, right?  Once little G was in the picture, me and Target became like this.  (You can't see me, but when I said "this" I crossed my fingers - yes, I'm a geek.)  And since we've been like this, I've been a loyal, weekly shopper there for almost the last two years.  Every time...and I mean EVERY time, without fail, the cashier would ask, "Would you like to open a Target REDcard and save 5% every time you shop?"  Being the woman that I am, and hating the idea of owing people money, the last thing I wanted was a credit card.  So, I've always politely responded with, "Not today," and then swiped my trusty bank card.  

Well, all that changed a couple of weeks ago.  A few months back, the cashier we had, mentioned something that piqued my interest.  She said debit, not credit.  I got interested and researched their website.  Sure enough, there are two options with this REDcard - debit or credit.  Credit is self-explanatory, but I wasn't sure how the debit aspect worked considering most debit cards are linked to a bank account, and Target is obviously not a bank.  On my next shopping adventure, I asked our cashier about the debit card, and we signed up.  All you need is a void check, your basic information (name, address, social), they run it through their system and viola!...next thing you know you're saving 5% on all purchases every time you shop their stores, including their website.  It's great!  Five percent doesn't sound like a lot, but it definitely adds up.  In the few weeks that we've had it, we've already saved close to $40.  And an extra forty dollars in my pocket is alright with me.